colordrops 0 Posted February 27, 2013 Share Posted February 27, 2013 Let me start by saying that I love Evernote and I believe it has amazing potential to be on of the big Internet properties like Google and Amazon if they play their cards right. Since I want Evernote to succeed, I want to emphasize two big issues that Evernote still has that need to be addressed in order for Evernote to succeed in the long term: 1. A native Linux client. Evernote representatives have specifically said that they are not working on a Linux client. This is a big mistake, because it seriously hinders adoption by Linux users. Linux users are a small percentage of users out there, so Evernote has to prioritize their work, right? Wrong. Linux users are very often developers, and are highly influential at companies and with friends. They also help build an ecosystem around a product, which has network effects. For instance, I don't think the Chrome browser would have had nearly the adoption it did if Google didn't release a Linux version. Many web devs work in Linux, and if they couldn't use Chrome, then a lot of plugins and sites would be Firefox-centric instead. In a nutshell, linux users are a small but very important community. They need to be supported. 2. A solid WYSIWIG editor for all platforms. The rich text editor plagued Google Docs when it was first released, with strange behavior (especially with bulleting, and cut and paste), which hindered adoption. Eventually Google fixed these problems and you can now use Google Docs without stressing about having to figure out how to work around some dumb formatting issue/bug. Right now Evernote is struggling with this problem. I hope that they work on getting the rich text editor to work super smoothly and effortlessly. Right now, because of problematic rich text formatting, I'm seeing 3rd party open source evernote clients doing strange things like losing parts of documents during sync. This is completely unacceptable - any data loss is unacceptable. This may not be directly Evernote's fault, but a problematic data format makes it easy for 3rd party developers to ***** up. If these two things are fixed, you will see Evernote adoption increase in speed. I promise you that. Also, on a side note, I read an interview with Bill Gates where he mentioned that one of MS's failed projects that he still thinks needs to be tackled is a general cloud-based structured data API. I think Evernote is positioned to do this if they play their cards right, and could become as important to internet infrastructure as Amazon's web services. Link to comment
megsaint 441 Posted February 27, 2013 Share Posted February 27, 2013 1. Search the forum. There is at least one long discussion in which there are links to where Evernote says they have no plans for a Linux client. 2. I'm not sure any of us users have a complete understanding of the challenges of developing across so many different platforms. Keep in mind, also, that Evernote is not, primarily, a text processing program. That is has some text handling features is more by way of a bonus than a core function. Link to comment
Level 5* Metrodon 2,184 Posted February 27, 2013 Level 5* Share Posted February 27, 2013 I think you missed out "in my opinion".... Linux, honestly I don't think they can be any more clear and the reality of the size of the Linux user base means that this really isn't going to change (in my opinion). I don't think anyone disagrees that the editor (across all platforms) needs to be improved. As for adoption speed, seems to me that they are growing about as quickly as they could cope with and they already have a pretty decent API. Link to comment
megsaint 441 Posted February 27, 2013 Share Posted February 27, 2013 I don't think anyone disagrees that the editor (across all platforms) needs to be improved.I wouldn't go so far as to disagree. I just don't care. If it were up to me, it would not be at the top of the priority list for where Evernote should commit their resources. I'm just such a troublemaker! :-) Link to comment
Level 5* Metrodon 2,184 Posted February 27, 2013 Level 5* Share Posted February 27, 2013 OK, I'm not saying that I want it to have every feature that Word is saddled with. But I would like it to be a little more consistent and a little less buggy. Link to comment
megsaint 441 Posted February 27, 2013 Share Posted February 27, 2013 Less buggy is always good! Link to comment
Level 5* Metrodon 2,184 Posted February 27, 2013 Level 5* Share Posted February 27, 2013 Phew - cat fight averted Link to comment
Level 5* jefito 5,589 Posted February 27, 2013 Level 5* Share Posted February 27, 2013 Relevant discussions:http://discussion.evernote.com/topic/22658-request-evernote-for-linux/http://discussion.evernote.com/topic/28844-is-there-an-evernote-for-linux-os/ No catfights!! Link to comment
megsaint 441 Posted February 27, 2013 Share Posted February 27, 2013 Phew - cat fight averted I would never want to fight with you, Metrodon! Link to comment
BurgersNFries 2,407 Posted February 27, 2013 Share Posted February 27, 2013 Linux users are very often developers, and are highly influential at companies and with friends. I guess OP thinks non-linux users don't do any development, have no influence in companies or have friends... Link to comment
Level 5* Metrodon 2,184 Posted February 27, 2013 Level 5* Share Posted February 27, 2013 Six years ago all the nerds in my company ran Linux on IBM/Lenovo hardware, now it's 99% MacBook Pros.Seems to me they choose the best gear that they can as they tend to sit in front of it for 16 hours a day. Link to comment
Level 5* GrumpyMonkey 4,319 Posted February 27, 2013 Level 5* Share Posted February 27, 2013 Let me start by saying that I love Evernote and I believe it has amazing potential to be on of the big Internet properties like Google and Amazon if they play their cards right. Since I want Evernote to succeed, I want to emphasize two big issues that Evernote still has that need to be addressed in order for Evernote to succeed in the long term: 1. A native Linux client. Evernote representatives have specifically said that they are not working on a Linux client. This is a big mistake, because it seriously hinders adoption by Linux users. Linux users are a small percentage of users out there, so Evernote has to prioritize their work, right? Wrong. Linux users are very often developers, and are highly influential at companies and with friends. They also help build an ecosystem around a product, which has network effects. For instance, I don't think the Chrome browser would have had nearly the adoption it did if Google didn't release a Linux version. Many web devs work in Linux, and if they couldn't use Chrome, then a lot of plugins and sites would be Firefox-centric instead. In a nutshell, linux users are a small but very important community. They need to be supported. 2. A solid WYSIWIG editor for all platforms. The rich text editor plagued Google Docs when it was first released, with strange behavior (especially with bulleting, and cut and paste), which hindered adoption. Eventually Google fixed these problems and you can now use Google Docs without stressing about having to figure out how to work around some dumb formatting issue/bug. Right now Evernote is struggling with this problem. I hope that they work on getting the rich text editor to work super smoothly and effortlessly. Right now, because of problematic rich text formatting, I'm seeing 3rd party open source evernote clients doing strange things like losing parts of documents during sync. This is completely unacceptable - any data loss is unacceptable. This may not be directly Evernote's fault, but a problematic data format makes it easy for 3rd party developers to ***** up. If these two things are fixed, you will see Evernote adoption increase in speed. I promise you that. Also, on a side note, I read an interview with Bill Gates where he mentioned that one of MS's failed projects that he still thinks needs to be tackled is a general cloud-based structured data API. I think Evernote is positioned to do this if they play their cards right, and could become as important to internet infrastructure as Amazon's web services. Hi. Welcome to the forums. (1) Linux sounds nice. I don't know how influential Linux developers will be about the spread of Evernote among the hoi polloi, seeing as they haven't succeeded in getting Linux adopted by their co-workers (at least, no where that I have ever worked). However, generally speaking, the more platforms Evernote is on, the better. I wouldn't call it a mistake myself to focus on mobile, windows, and mac. Instead, it seems like the business decision of a startup, and probably a smart one at that, because they have (so far) managed to leverage very few resources to reach tens of millions of users all over the world. My hat is off to them for this, and for investing in the API so that third-party developers can step in to supply products. This, of course, includes a Linux option already (2) Overall, the text editor seems pretty good to me, and it is coming along nicely. As for data loss in third-party clients, it sounds to me like that shouldn't be laid at the feet of Evernote! Can you point to something in particular in the API or the service that you think Evernote has done poorly to cause these issues, as you suggest? Link to comment
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